Tuesday, 3 September 2013

Picture Books

If the expression on her face is anything to go by, Mrs Pig has
had enough. She is scowling as she mows the lawn while her three great lumps of
sons sit around watching from their deck chairs and the pool. She packs them a
generous lunch and sends them off into the world. We all know what happens next
– two pigs meet a nasty fate in encounters with the big bad wolf and the third,
more astute and with a much better house design, goes on to live a comfortable and
happy life. Gavin Bishop has retold the story but has not ‘tampered’ with any
of the essential ingredients and although for this new issue he has redesigned
the images they have not lost any of their original charm from the 1989
edition. We need more ‘retellings’ of traditional stories like this where the
tried and tested plot stays the same!